By Bay Area Ambassadors PR
April 11, 2011
Apr 10, 2011 – Coming off a 3-1 loss in last weeks home opener, the Bay Area Ambassadors (0-1) were looking to right the ship and set course for a better result this week against visiting Sacramento Gold. (0-0)

After going down 4-0 in the first half against Sacramento, the Ambassadors looked confused, and frustrated. Goalkeeper Sergio Valle was visibly upset with his team and at times was the only one making a concerted effort to communicate on the pitch.

Sacramento opened up the scoring early in the 7th minute, with a beauty of a goal by Clemente Fonseca. A well paced run down the left side gave him momentum to
cut to his right for a one touch laser into the upper left corner, where Ambassador goalkeeper Sergio Valle had no chance of getting a hand on the shot.

Needing no reminder of what the Ambassadors did to them the previous season, the Sacramento Club appeared poised, confident and unafraid. Sacramento kept on the attack and found the back of the net again in the 21st minute, as Fonseca buried his second goal of the match.

The Ambassadors appeared to muster up some energy after the second goal and almost cut the lead to one, but they failed to capitalize on a clear goal scoring opportunity. That missed opportunity would spell disaster as Sacramento’s Mando Piña found net in the 28th minute and would come back to score his second goal and 4th overall in the 40th minute before the close of the half.

The second half had a change of tone for the Ambassadors who were in obvious need of a goal. With the sizable lead however, the Sacramento team went with a more conservative approach, as they only needed to hold off the Ambassador attack for the remaining half and they would leave with three valuable points.

In the 85th minute the Ambassadors were able to draw a penalty from an ill-timed challenge in the box, Dylan Leslie would step up to convert and give the Ambassadors their lone goal of the match.

General Manager Arif Khan had this to say about the game, “We are still trying to find our way with a new coach and our formation was not cohesive for our players. We had to revert to a 4-4-2 for the second half and that changed our approach. We also failed to recognize the strength of our opponents and we need to address our players and our confidence going into our next match.”

The Ambassadors go on the road next Saturday to take on Real San Jose at Yerba Buena High School, 1855 Lucretia Ave, San Jose CA 95122

The National Premier Soccer League is a United States soccer league recognized by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) and FIFA. The league is officially affiliated with the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and teams qualify directly for the U.S. Open Cup. As of 2011 the NPSL consists of 37 teams nationwide.